Apple revamps MacBook Pro lineup, adds 'Touch Bar'

On the 25th anniversary of the first PowerBook, Apple has announced three new MacBook Pro models. The long-awaited new flagship 13" and 15" MacBook Pros bring performance boosts compared to the previous generation, revamped ergonomics, and a new 'Touch Bar', aimed at making the machines more versatile for creative professionals.

It's no surprise that the two new flagship MacBook Pro models are slimmer and lighter than their predecessors, but the ergonomic changes are more fundamental than that. Their new 'force touch' trackpads are twice as large as the previous-generation, and the keyboards have been redesigned, with a slimmer butterfly switch design, that Apple claims will offer superior tactile feel to the similar switches in the 12" MacBook.

The big news, however, is the addition of a 'Touch Bar'. Much anticipated (and leaked), this is a touch-sensitive display strip, that effectively replaces the traditional function keys which have been a feature of consumer computing for more than 40 years. The Touch Bar is fully customizable, and its default functions change depending on the application. Obvious uses including scrubbing through a video timeline in Final Cut Pro, and quick text formatting and email flagging in Apple's Mail app.

In addition to the new 13" and 15" Touch Bar-equipped models, a third new 13" MacBook Pro has also been introduced, which is even slimmer, even lighter, but features only two thunderbolt ports, and a traditional function key array. Base configurations of the new 13" and 15" MacBook Pro models will be available starting at $1799 and $2399 respectively, and the slimmer non-Touch Bar model will start at $1499.

During a demo at the launch event, a representative from Adobe demonstrated how the Touch Bar can be used in Photoshop to quickly switch between layers, blending modes and select brushes without needing to access any of the usual on-screen pallets - effectively allowing true 'full-screen' image editing. Adobe is expecting to add full support for the Touch Bar before the end of 2016.

Another big change is how the new MacBook Pro models manage peripherals. Gone is the built-in SD reader, MagSafe connector, and any traditional USB or HDMI ports. Instead, the new computers offer four Thunderbolt 3 ports, all of which can serve as power, USB 3, HDMI, display, or ThunderBolt connectors.

In terms of performance, Apple claims that the new MacBook Pro's displays are 67% brighter, offer a 67% greater contrast ratio and 25% greater color gamut than the previous generation, and the 15in version offers 130% greater 3D graphics performance. Video editing on the 15in model should be 57% faster than the previous generation, thanks to a quad-core Intel Core i7 processor, faster 2133Mhz memory and up to 4GB of video Ram. Built-in storage has been boosted too, up to 3TB with a maximum rated data transfer rate of 3.1 gigabytes per second.

We're intrigued by the possibilities of the new Touch Bar, and after watching Adobe's demonstration of its integration into Photoshop, we can see it becoming popular with photographers. Likewise video editing. The ability to run a video at full-screen, without any on-screen clutter but still have access to key navigation and editing tools from the Touch Bar is pretty neat. Business users will appreciate Touch Bar integration with MS Office, and an integrated iOS-style Touch ID fingerprint scanner for quick unlocking and user-switching.

Every time Apple adds or removes an I/O port, certain Internet commenters get up in arms, but with the exception of the lack of SD slot, the move to an all-Thunderbolt I/O interface makes sense. We suspect that for serious users, the sheer versatility of the four USB-C style ports should outweigh the inconvenience of switching away from traditional USB, HDMI and display connectors in the long run.

Less clear-cut is the matter of how Apple intends to evolve its desktop and mobile operating systems. With iOS getting more powerful (just anecdotally, the iPad Pro has effectively replaced laptops for several of us here at DPReview), and Mac OS getting progressively more iOS-like, we're curious to see what happens next. The addition of the Touch Bar to the new MacBooks brings OS integration a little closer, but will Apple continue to expect developers like Adobe to create separate versions of its applications for both iOS and Mac OS – even as the user bases overlap?

If anyone does end up getting one of these new MacBook Pros and needs an adaptor, just look up SMK USB-C on ebay (about $90). It has everything, 3 USB 3.0, charging port, Ethernet, HDMI, SD Card Reader, and Micro SD Card Reader.

Honestly no. I suggest not buying items like this on eBay. Buy them from Amazon or B&H. That way you can be assured that you can easily return the item within 30 days with absolutely no questions asked. A lot of these hubs are in the early phases and, according to verified purchaser reviews on Amazon, most are having a lot of issues.

eBay is great for certain items like old cameras or simple, cheap cables but not for an item like this, in my opinion.

Ok well this hub is a bit pointless because it isn't thunderbolt 3. The hubs I was referring to are thunderbolt 3 and have display port and usb-c connections and allow you to connect 2 4k monitors at 60hz. Anyone buying the new MacBook Pro models should be getting a thunderbolt capable hub.

From my developer perspective: R.I.P. Apple. I'm buying and daily using the Apple notebooks the last 10+ years: running Ubuntu, FreeBSD, Windoze, OSX - writing code, penetration testing, but also editing video, playing guitar & singing - and editing images in Lightroom. All this requires a lot of performance and flexibility, which Apple always delivered: best HW available, hands down. On the last Thursday, watching the Apple conf, I was p..d off they removed the physical F-keys and put USB-C inside. It reminds me on the joke with Russian watch: take this little superb watch and don't forget the 2 suitcases with all the machinery. Most SW engineers will deny using the F-key-less keyboard for developing. When you write code 10+ hours daily, you NEED the bloody shortcuts; no, remapping is not a solution. So I bought on Friday the previous Macbook PRO, with F-keys and USB3 - and 5 years/24 hours guarantee. Probably my last Macbook :-(. May be somebody wakes up and rethinks it.

Yes, with dual-core; or to put it another way: to get a fully usable keyboard, one has to get 50% less performance and the smallest display. Makes no sense and is only sad to me :-(. To be forced to buy an old machine, holding the bucks in my hand and watching the newest Apple announcements, well, it's really abnormal. I can live without the USB connectivity; I can even forgive the removed card-reader, although both decisions are sick and killing the such good product. But I can not live with a crippled keyboard. How far can they go with this fancy/funny/ohItsSoSexy brainwashed story? Now I know how far: until a lot of us are forced to move away from Apple. And the last Thursday I was that far.. In this moment, the best machine around was their old Macbook, which still holds its best-possible position. I've bought the strongest/best one I could get. But in 5 years, it won't be enough, sadly. I hope somebody like MS Surface will be grown up enough in that coming Mac-is-dead time.

Right it is slower. However I'm sure that you understand that you can get highend workstation laptops from the likes of Dell, Levovo and HP that are still a good deal faster than the quad-core MacBook Pro with that screen in place of the fn keys. All of these other laptops would be more expensive than the top of the line new MacBook Pro. But you get the option for much more RAM of course.

From your original post I'm not clear if something commits you to having a Mac OS on Apple hardware. You're clearly running other OSes.

I'm more disappointed that the new 13 inch, non-touch, MacBook glues the battery in and uses a proprietary PCIe SSD. Wonder if the sound cards are any good?

@Stu 5This is something you have to live to see it does not work. To develop like this thousands hours - pressing "touch" panel instead of the proper HW keys. Hard to explain, but be sure that you _need_ the F-keys in the intensive code/build/debug carousel.

@HowaboutRAWI had them all in the TelCo I'm working for; and I bought my own MBP years ago, again and again, as none of these brands felt like MBP. The keyboard, display, noise, weight, touch-pad, accu... I remember coming into the office one day with 2kg MBP and colleagues had 5kg Dells, whose accu was as big as my MBP - all of them bought MBP in the coming days. We had them all: the HP with the fiddle gummy nipple and poor keyboard, the plastic/gummy Lenovo with the flimsy display.. So most of us use the "bring your own device" philosophy and buy the work machine privately, just to get the Apple MBP. Mind you, we are developing most the time. And yes, this IS (well, was..) the machine you are happy coding with all the time..

WalPhoto so do what anyone does who uses a laptop for hours and hours at a time... buy a separate bluetooth Apple keyboard and a folding stand to put your MBP onto. That way you will work quicker and will have no neck strain. As of yet you have not even tried using the 'touch panel'. You are basically complaining about something you have never used. For me as a professional photographer and designer I will jump at the opportunity to purchase a separate keyboard that has a touch panel built in as soon as it becomes available from Apple. For me it is a step forward and not backwards.

To my taste my HP's laptop's keyboard has better key action that MacBook Pros--that's pre the release of this new version from Apple.

I'm surprised if working in an office you're not using a separate keyboard. I certainly do when working at my desk at home.

I've always found the pro Lenovo laptops to have good keyboards, much better than my 2011 HP--probably a left over from IBM. And HP has vastly improved in recent years, and as I said to my taste it was already ahead of Apple. (I'm not referring to some 1000 HP notebook).

Now, I very much like the keyboard on this new MacBook Pro--it's a big improvement over the tiny MacBook.

@Stu 5First, I'll try to sell you a car now: but beer in mind you have to put the steering wheel into your bag and attach it when needed. Also, to enter the car, you need a mobile, very small & sexy, ladder. You don't like it? Come on, you are complaining about something you never used!Second, I wrote in my original comment, that Apple lost me as a senior SW engineer; although I shoot whole my life and I was developing in wet darkroom already as a little child, 35+ years ago. No DEV I know will buy these new MBP - it doesn't mean you won't buy them, as you are not a DEV.

@HowaboutRAWI love to have no external devices, no monitors/mice/keyboards/adapters.. I have my notebook everywhere, take it out anywhere, code/debug, put back into the bag.. Switching home-office and real-office on daily base as it comes and goes. All I need is always with me. This is pretty different from a designer full time job. Apple lost a lot of us: I can speak of me and all Apple-Book DEVs I know.

So over apple. Once the rumors came out on these macbook pros, I bought a tricked out 2014, and will see what's going on in a number of years. IMO, these MBP stink and iOS10 is painful. Might be my last generation of Apple gear.

One thing that apparently flew under the radar is that these new books appear to have screens with DCI-P3 color space. If true that's of prime importance to us photographers but it's weird that Schiller and Federighi did not do a song and dance about that.

I really dislike this trend of ditching popular ports that everyone uses, just to be trendy and appear like they pushed the envelope. The 3.5mm jack with their phone, the SD card, standard USB and so on. Sure, you may appeal to people that use their machines to log on to Facebook or browse the web, but i thought Apple used to stand for professionals also.And yeah, i know that there are adapters and stuff, but i thought they used to stand for a certain... elegance. Dongles aren't elegant.

Bought a MS Surface Pro 3 in 2014 as a replacement to my MBP. Was not sure how I would handle after more than 10 years as an ardent Apple fan. Haven't looked back. Windows 10 is fine. The difference between macOS and Windows 10 is not as great as previous versions (Apple is still slightly better). Love the touchscreen in MS Surface as Apple doesn't want to dent their iPad sales so they don't put it on MBP. My Mac Pro has been replaced by a PC computer which is 4 times more powerful and one third cheaper. Just small incremental technologic advancements but my 2012 iMac 27" will be replaced by MS Surface Studio 28" with all its innovations (Dial, touchscreen, use of screen upright or as a tablet, etc.).

Just to clear things up, it's USB-C connector but the underlying technology is Thunderbolt 3! That's 4x times faster than USB 3.1! It also offers bi-directional power up to 100w and can connect up to 6 devices!

So? Do you have 4 devices that need this throughput? I don't have any. Maybe I will get 1 at some point. Wouldn't it be a lot better if they had kept 2 usba ports and the sd card reader and added 2 of the new ones.

How would it be better? Each of the new ports can be connected with almost every kind of peripheral including power sources, various flavors of USB, Thunderbolt, FireWire, displays, networks, phones, tablets, cameras ... Think about it. Everyone has different needs. This solution allows for everyone to address their own backward and future compatibility. If all you need is USB then get an adaptor; compared to the cost of a new laptop, they are inexpensive.

With a combination if usb-a, usb-c/tb & sd slot and hdmi (like eg in the xps-15) I don't need to buy and carry adapters and card readers with me all the time. Think about it, isn't it better not to have to carry adapters for the most common ports that people use? And those who need something less common, well they would've needed an adapter anyway so they don't lose something.

My point was: it's not better for everyone. Versatility is reduced with dedicated, single-type ports rather than universal TB 3 ports that can be used for any kind of connection. You are only considering what you need, and the peripherals you already have. What about the future? Can you connect two 5K monitors to your xps-15? And what might be "the most common" port now, may not be during the life of a high-end laptop. TB/USB-C will rule. Everything you have can still be connected plus whatever you might want in the future, and everything works at optimal speed (at least in the 15 inch MBP). There are other advantages too: for example, standardization on TB3/USB-C connectors means that fewer chargers need be carried for powered perpherals.

Of course I am considering what I need now. Saying that it is better to get something that doesn't meet my current needs but may meet my future needs sounds like complete nonsense. 2 usb-c/tb ports is already 2 more than I need now so it is future proof enough for several years. Beyond that, I don't even know what things are going to be like: cpu will likely be obsolete, gpu will certainly be obsolete, 16gb of ram may not be enough, there might be a tb4 or some other protocol that is even faster and it could use a new connector type. So having an extra 2 usbc connectors is going to be the least of my worries.

Anyway Apple is dead to me now, I have put up with its arbitrary choices that keep inconveniencing me for a long time, and I decided d that enough is enough. If you want carry a bunch of adapters with you all the time in the hope that 5 years from now those usbc ports will be needed in an otherwise obsolete machine - be my guest. It's great that we can all chose what we want.

I don't need any adaptors. For my 12" Macbook I already have USB-C external SSD drive (Samsung T3, a superb, tiny, fast drive), USB-C card reader, flash drive, and USB-C to Lightning cable to connect to my phone. They will all work on a new MBP, at the same time.

I love the fact that all your initial arguments about how great it will be for everyone to have 4 USB-C port have gone away and replaced by "I just have the 12 inch MacBook with 1 USB-C so the 4 of the MacBook Pro are an improvement for me".

But you do have a point - the owners of the MacBook are probably the only people that are happy with the design decisions of the Pro. Let's wait and see how it works out for Apple.

My arguments did not go away. Please don't misrepresent me. You actually have no idea what I use in addition to a MacBook. For what I use it for, the MacBook is an excellent computer. For one thing, its screen is the best I have ever used for working with and showing photos. The new MBP will replace my previous MBP and work with my peripherals, and if its screen is anywhere near as good as the one on the Retina MB, it will be a spectacular computer for photographic use.

There are many people who are very excited about the new design, and I predict that these machines will sell well. But obviously not to you since you seem to need to justify having made a different choice, nor to the professional whiners. My argument has simply been about the advantages of having 4 TB3 ports that are versatile, powerful, backwards compatible and forward looking (the same argument made in Barney's article above).

"Wow, this new Macbook is [hyperboles about the high price]! And that Touch Bar is [hyperboles how it is useless]. Also, I won't be able to connect my [list of 5 devices I have used once or twice in 10 years], so stupid!"

"I'll keep my [Windows laptop with better specs than I actually have], or will buy a Microsoft laptop. Apple doesn't innovate anymore, [list a few things like the iPhone still looks like the previous version or that since mr. Jobs has passed away things have changed, etc.]."

USB is outdated compared to the speed of USB-C which will be the new standard. If Apple thought like you we would still be using floppy discs and zip drives. You don't have to buy the adaptors from Apple, they're available by the thousands on ebay. The new MacBook is designed for the future, not the past as you would like it to be.

I suspect that pro users need to accept that high-end imaging whether still or especially video will soon produce files whose size and computing needs are going to choke any laptop over the next few years. And that this will become a market far too small for a huge company like Apple to service profitably. Apple needs production runs in the millions. There will never be millions of 60-120 mpx 4K/8K camera owners. I think with these new laptops Apple are signalling that they want to stay with the broad mass of computing requirements, not the outliers, but that they want to appeal to the high end of this (high end as in extremely wealthy not as in extremely demanding computing needs). In other regards, I can't see what's wrong with these new machines. They will seem commonplace in a year or two.

Macs are certainly stylish and sleek machines which you pay a premium for, meaning the value for money is not there when compared to windows counterparts. If money is no question I would certainly like to have Macbook Pro or MacAir laptop. Well the missing SD card reader is inconvenience as well as the lack of "legacy" USB ports but the form factor and screens are superb and performance is good for mobile device. I cannot comment on OS X as I don't have enough experience wit it. However, my overclocked Haswell i5 quadcore desktop with 1TB ssd is here to stay supplemented by second hand cheap and cheerful Lenovo X220 with IPS and still powerful Sandy Bridge i5 2540m. I see that some say that MACs are more stable then Windows PCs but I don't know where is this assumption coming from, maybe from early Windows XP and older times but I have absolutely no stability issues on my selfbuilt and overclocked desktop with Windows 10 when editing photos or video clips in various software, neither on X220 upgraded with Windows 10 and SSD.

They say that windows is unstable because of what they read online, most people saying that have no idea how to configure windows and build their own PC. My windows 7 has more than 2 years since it's been installed and I use it for 10-12 hours every day for editing, browsing, I browse obscure sites every now and then and what do you know, no viruses and it just works.

I'm currently editing files from a camera from last year on a 4-5 year old mid-range PC with no problems.

I can not imagine how hard is for a pro photographer to edit photos on a 15 inch screen, let alone 13,3 inch, that would be masochism.

@nicolai I built a Win desktop, held my breath, switched it on, inserted the Win DVD, clicked install then made a restore backup, I just typed that in to find out how to do it, installed a free anti virus app, then installed my apps, some were very old, changed the colour scheme and that's it. Three years later I'm thinking of upgrading my GPU, almost three times faster for the same money. If I do I'll re-purpose the old one in another machine. I would put both in but my 6 Pcie slots are full with Blackmagic SDI video cards.

Wow, Apple made an external ergonomic hardware change for like the first time in maybe 10 years. They finally veered away from the dreadful design practice called minimalism (which looks okay to clean-freaks but makes so many things more difficult) into adding some actual functionality. Big surprise.

They added minimal functionality by adding something you have to look at on the keyboard, which is the part of the computer you probably shouldn't be looking at when you use it - and did it by removing functionality, literally, the function keys, the escape key, etc.

Then they went ahead and removed more functionality from the computer by suggesting all you really need are thunderbolt port and a sack of dongles.

apparently, Phil Schiller made the excuse that Apple couldn't put more memory in the MBP 2106 because it would seriously impact battery life – so it's crippled at 16gb(never mind that Apple deprives Pro users of making such a choice – nor in making 32gb/64gb available in a switchable power-saver mode in systerm prefs – btw that should be easier to engineer than the toolbar). I'd like to see the maxed out 15" MBP go head to head with the forthcoming 17" Razer Blade Pro – which is being marketed as a desktop replacement. and which features new cooling chamber tech. Let's see who really pushes the envelope...

Unfortunately it doesn't work like that. The power impact is just from having that memory installed. It doesn't support low power memory over 16GB. There would be no way to implement a power saving mode when more than 16GB wasn't required.

Funny how you can call OS X El Capitan outdated against Windows 10.....when Windows 10 is the latest version of Windows and EL Cap is in fact an outdated version of Mac OS. The latest version is Mac OS Sierra and Windows 10 can't come close. Windows 10 sucks anyway.

Are they going to make an external keyboard with the touchbar? Without such a thing, I wouldn't be able to take advantage of the function when I have an external monitor, keyboard and trackpad attached to the laptop at a work station.

First, the microphone input was dropped on the iPhone and now this. Apple clearly is on the slide down. My next phone won't be an iPhone because of the lack of microphone jack and my next laptop will certainly not be a Mac.

It's actually the headphone jack which was eliminated. Also, USB-C will soon be the standard on most new computers and there are already plenty of inexpensive adaptors available so I wouldn't get my panties in a big wad over Apple taking the first steps toward the new technology. USB-C (USB 3.1) is much faster, easier to use, and more adaptable for multiple peripherals. There's just the agony of transition to the new standard.

@Valient Thor - I called it loosely as microphone jack since I use it mostly for microphone input. BTW speaking of inexpensive adapters my experience with Apple products is that they generally don't work as well as Apple ones (possible because of some 'secret sauce' in Apple adapters) and I end up buying Apple's adapters anyway.

Just wait until the Touchless Bar comes out upping the price to $3599 (£3800 in the UK). One will be able to look at it and realise that it is money well spent, as is the additional $500 (£600 in the UK) for the extended warranty.

MUst say somesay it's not like other Apple products not all that revolutionary now and just paying for the name. Rather stick with my Windows Laptop custom 17" 1080p Screen; I7, 4TB Storage built in; 4xUSB 3's with traditional plug; Bluray writer, good qualiy built and good & stable Windows System and cheaper than any of these. Stick with Non Apple stuff from now on and go for rivals; music / video streaming (Netflixs), Mobiles (Samsung), Windows PCs, etc, etc, etc, etc.

Possibly to big and arrogant for their own goods and stuck in their way - bit like unfortunately Nikon is and feel that they're both on a downward spiral with people buying elsewhere, second hand and making do with what they're got.

@thomas2279f. Why did you post here if you're happy with your over-bloated custom Windows machine? Seems funny when people SEEM happy with what they have but feel the need to come here and hate on Apple. Seems like you're really the arrogant one. Maybe you're not really happy and are trying to make yourself feel good?

Like many professional photographers the MBP is my main 'PC'. The current is a top spec 2014 model. It will, tech-God willing, serve me well for 2-3 more years given the current rate of high-end camera raw file development. For me that's good value for money, and when the time comes to upgrade, a Windoze vs OS assesment will be made. I'll buy what's right for me there and then, and would all hope so would everybody else: So, what's all the discussion about?

It's ridiculous to see how so many intelligent people that will never buy a macbook lose so much time in commenting against apple products.

The funniest are comments against the touch bar, with so many intelligent people that complain for its uselessness.All macbook from last decade have a physical set of keys that has done what the the new touch bar will do. Nothing has changed unless an extension of the functionality of the same.

Yet the multi touchpad of macbook allow for a quick photo and video software operation and the touch bar will allow for other quick operations when software producers will integrate their software with this new tool. The combo of two hands operation will allow to fast work without any mouse.

Ms surface is a good thing but I think it's disadvantageous for anyone that works with graphic to have hands on screen where you need to see what are you doing without any obstacle or to work with a perpetually dirty display because of organic dirt from hands.

"I think it's disadvantageous for anyone that works with graphic to have hands on screen where you need to see what are you doing without any obstacle or to work with a perpetually dirty display because of organic dirt from hands."

How did those artists create their masterpieces on canvas, having to deal with those perpetually dirty canvases? Cor blimey!

If you are an idiot it doesn't really matter which platform you are using, because even the holy OSX oné gets viruses, trojans and other malware. So the old excuse that only Windows is affected is no longer valid.

Please try again with a better argument if you can think of one. At the moment the Apple computers are all overpriced, featuring old tech and impossible to upgrade. I'd say that makes them pretty much useless for a pro.

I hate to see Apple diminishing as a innovation powerhouse. Not because I'm an Apple user but because it kept other PC manufacturers on it's toes. Now I'm afraid that we are entering a techblah decade.

It's happened before not that long ago in the 90's when Apple was run by Mr. Sculley and Apple almost sank at his command. PC's went nowhere because they never innovated buy rather copy. I won't say we're there yet but we could be if Apple can't pull a rabbit out of a hat. They've led innovation since PC's were first available but seem to have a rather myopic & blurred vision of late. If not Apple, it could the time for PC's to become truly revolutionary. I don't think it really matters who.

@ Holger Drallmeyer. Lots of good tech out there that is going nowhere. Apple will sell this to the masses, whether you like it or not.

Xrox PARC didn't sell their GUI to the masses, Apple did. Sony was making Walkmans long before the iPod, bur Apple brought the portable music player to the masses, and created iTunes to sell them the music. At one time Nokia owned the cell phone market, but not anymore. The list goes on and on.

Apple is slowing down, Microsoft is speeding up. After 20 years with Apple, I'm very inclined to try out one of the Surface models when I upgrade next. These Macs don't seem to bring much new to the table other than the lack of compatibility with my current external hardware.

Something to be aware of, the two ports on the right side of the 13 inch MBP with that Touch Bar thing have Thunderbolt 3 functionality but with reduced PCI Express bandwidth. For that reason, Apple recommends plugging higher-performance devices into the left-hand ports on that machine. 13 inch MBP without Touch Bar and 15 inch MBP all ports have full functionality. Probably not a show stopper for anyone...but I find it odd.

It is truly surprising that the screen itself is not touch sensitive, as has been the case for Dell, Surface and others for some time now. Apple seems to have bogged down in terms of real innovation and in some aspects hasn't even caught up. Microsoft sees this and is making a bid for "creative types".

The issue isn't the touch functionality, but that OSX doesn't currently have the calls for touchscreen input. It's not that it can't be done, but it doesn't exist yet. IMHO, touch screens without a stylus don't really make much sense. I have a SP4, and I almost never use the touchscreen, preferring the mouse or touchpad, for interaction EXCEPT when I'm using the pen. Then using the touch for pan/zoom/rotate and some selections while using the pen as the primary device. Apple still has several functions which blow the SP4 out of the water, power management chief in that list. With the same hardware, OSX squeezes out more battery life and nails the sleep/wake modes (better idle state management all around). They also tend to work with 3rd party software to get features included for launch, or very shortly thereafter. Compare that to the MS/n-trig pen which took literally YEARS to get proper pressure sensitivity into Photoshop after the pen was released.

I believe it is an issue of reliability and service. I have beaten the daylights out of several 13-inch MacBookPros in the last 15 years all over the world and they have never let me down. When friends machines have broken, Apple has a one-price service for $300 or so in which they'll repair everything wrong with the computer.

I would only prefer build or buy PC computer cos of the cost vs the Apple enormous cost to compare. Apple service does not come cheap like what rfsll said. Its the truth unfortunately! Why the hell would apple use ATI video cards that still lag behind Geforce at higher cost from Apple? I am sure thats a rip off?

"Touch bar" can be only an appendix added at the end of the "touch screen" book. Apple only wrote a small appendix, without the main book around. And ... if you want to see really an elegant way of doing it, look at the videos of Surface Studios, it is called Surface Dial in those videos.

For more tech savy people, get second hand Lenovo X220 for approx. $200 from ebay. Get the one with IPS display and make it into hackintosh dual booting with original windows 7 upgradable to windows 10. It has all the CPU power you may need in still powerful Sandy Bridge Core i5, display port out, fast SD card reader, great keyboard, normal USBs, LAN. I bought 5 X220 with original windows 7 licence included recently, upgraded them all with SSDs and Windows 10, and what a great machines they are. Gave one to my mum, dad and wife, keeping one for myself and the last one as a media streamer in the living room for projector. Here you see the CPU comparison of $200 Lenovo X220 with $1800 new Macbook Pro.

Still using my 4-5 year old sony vaio laptop and hdmi out to a dell IPS graphic monitor. Using the latest lightroom without much issues. Editing my raw files on a server with just a regular cat6 cable. (did do wifi (N) thru server but the lag was too much compared to hardwire).

So you don't need the latest tech for photo editing. Now if I was still a gamer and use my computer to do 3d rendering, yes I would get the latest nvidia 1080 graphic card laptop or gamer PC for $1500. I like the force touch, looks like a fun luxury feature, but not necessary.

It's such a surprise to read the DP comments. So many folks who know exactly what's wrong with the new Apple laptops. ... But none of the commenters (including myself) have used these new machines. We don't know how fast these laptops are. Don't know how well integrated the new touch bar functionality and the OS are.

The folks who harp about this or that being missing don't get how Apple works, their all-around approach. These machines are gonna hit the sweet spot for most photographer users. And the fact that the new 13" model is about the same size and weight as the 13" Air (but with retina display and all that power) is particularly appealing to photographers like me who travel.

A "sweet spot for most photographer users" like me who travel a lot would have included an SD card slot. An SD card slot does not take up a huge amount of space like an optical drive does. It would have been nice if they had spared the SD slot, and one USB slot. I love the convenience of just slipping my SD cards into my 13" Macbook Pro Retina, without having to carry an SD card reader, fish the SD card reader from my bag when I need it, plugging it into the laptop, and having it dangle off the side of the laptop, with the possibility of it accidentally detaching while in use. Next time around, they'll probably remove the headphone jack, too :(

You don't need to own one to know that the lame and expensive hard drive and RAM options are insufficient, that removing magsafe connectors is a bad idea and that going zen with ports is going to be a super bad idea for everyday work. Plus they are about 30% more expensive.

I almost never plug in a camera to a computer to download images. I have several cameras and also download images taken with other peoples cameras. And, it is more common than not that you need some drivers and/or programs to get those images. Something I never install. So, I use either the built in SD card slot or a card reader. True, the built in SD slot often is too slow. But ... anyhow.

"I can't see how people have a need to plug an SD card into their Macbooks more than once or twice a day.

It is just as easy to connect the camera directly to the Mac."

Not its not. That requires a separate lead an on mine fiddling about to open the weather sealed port that hides the USB port.

Even at home with my desktop I always take out the SD card and slot it into the reader in the side of my monitor. It's just quicker, easier and also faster as the reader on the monitor is USB3 whereas the camera USB port (as are many still) is USB2.

However the real issue is what you do "on the go". I have always fancied a MacBook as a portable machine to back up and edit photos but the idea I will have to remember to take the card reader then find it when I want to upload is as good as reason as any not to buy one.

Leaving it out simply makes for more inconvenience. So why do that? Ergonomic design is supposed to do the opposite. Bizarre decision to leave it out.

Just because a minority of cameras and other devices use some other far less common form of flash storage is no reason to remove support for SD cards.

Apple currently seems to be in the business of inconveniencing people first with the removal of the headphone jack off the iphone 7, now this.

While you can argue the technical merits of doing either (though personally I think the arguments are weak), practically from a users point of view these represent an inconvenience. Ignoring and/or annoying users and adopting an "I know best" attitude is a good way to drive them away.

Some people love Apple products and will still buy but for those not in the fold but looking, like me, I am less likely to buy now.

Yes, but micro-SD is more common in smaller cameras and will probably take over. What then?

And since pro-grade cards are either CF or the newer formats why are “pro“ shooters left in the dark? After all, the MBpro is “pro“, right?

I have the MacBook 12 which has only 1 USB-C port. I get along with it but if the option is for one more USB-C port or an SD card slot, I know what I would chose. An extra USB-C port is far more valuable than an SD slot.

You can only do one thing with your SD reader. With USB-C you can read your SD card and at least 6 other things - at the same time. And at USB 3.0 speed for faster to boot!

Nah ... if there is no USB, then there is no USB. Do not need to test that. That new strip for input is bad or not cannot be really known without testing. I can imagine some compatibility issues with programs though. Just a guess. And ... max 16 GB is max 16 GB.

Forever. And, the moves from Apple to change interfaces all the time is a part of the problem. But, also the moves to change flash memory standards.

Now, of course, no change no development. So, we are stock with incompatibilities.

It is like the 3D scene. New things pop up all the time, and we never reach a situation where you can simply go out and get the right equipment (for TV and/or computer). Tomorrow it is useless.

But, for flash memories, the best compatibility path is to use one or more card readers. Because the standard to use FAT32 and store in the SDIM folder seems very stable.

So, if cameras could all (by default) just emulate a card reader, then we would be quite near to flash memory card nirvana. But, most do not. Some you can configure to do so, but far from all. And it is seldom the default.

One addition. My smart phone can be made to look as a card reader for my photos, but only if I store the photos on an external sim card. For the built in flash memory I need to use a special program. And ... so it goes. The manufacturers feel no strong urge to follow standards.

@gosh:You need an eye exam. It has an Esc key. And you're the first person I'm aware of who can know how a brand new keyboard design works without even touching it. If you graduated from Trump U., that would explain it.

I use emacs for editing and I need an ESC button. I have no idea if the tactile feeling of this cyber-ESC is going to bug me or not. Hmmmm ... of course ... I can bind ESC to CAPS LOCK and then this annoying key is gone :)

As anyone who types on a real keyboard vs an on-screen keyboard (say, on the iPad Pro), the real keyboard will win out every time.

My only issue with the bar is that it requires the programmers intentionally add code to support it. Which means that outside of a few premiere programs it will be a non-tactile function row - a step backwards.

Yes, fully agree. I have Photoshop CS6. It can, of course, not support the bar. So, I have no need for it. It is therefore, for that program, not an advantage for me. Only if I go to CC will I get that support, at a cost.

This is a really good looking laptop, I was astonished by all the negative reviews, I think it just shows how poorly educated consumers are about technology. The new processors, faster SSD throughput,faster ram chips, improved screens, fast modern USB-C standard (and 4 ports!) adds up to extremely impressive machine especially for media professionals. I benchmark machines for a living it is truly impressive what Apple can squeeze out of their hardware due to their incredibly close relationship with hardware manufacturers, in all my years benchmarking machines for a major publication I have never seen such impressive throughput. In fact I'll take quite the opposite stance from other folks here and say that after 20 years as a very avid Windows user this will be my first Mac ! Kudos Apple. And discouraged Apple folks I will tell you it's not what's on the Surface that counts, but what lies underneath -no pun intended ;)

The performance of Apple products is rarely a cause for concern, what worries long-time users is the obsession (and it really is an obsession, with all that word implies) with things that don't matter to the detriment of function.

Also the majority of heavyweight processing that these machines do is with Adobe software that is not optimised for the hardware. As Apple has scaled back it's software offering that has become even more noticeable

4 Ports is adequate only. For me working on assignment that would mean one for power, one for external keyboard (via dongle), one for ethernet (dongle) and one for HD/usb key (dongle).

I'm not in the market because I have a 2015 model but none of my dongles bought last year - thunderbolt 2 will work on this machine. That level of forced redunancy very much annoys professionals.

As a pro photographer, what I need from a laptop to work with on the go is a non glossy screen (gone years ago), an SD card built in, (gone), MagSafe to avoid accidents (gone), usable USB ports (gone), easily accessible physical short cut keys like ESC and Fn keys (gone) to keep onlooking at screen while working, not focus on a gimmick bar.

I also need a fast machine (no real benchmarks yet, but I assume it will be somewhat faster than previous model).

What we now have is lighter laptop in a tangled donglefest and a cool Emoji bar.

Mind you, this gadget is going to look cool in the hands of rich kids to browse their Facebook pages really fast.

As a power user, 80% sit on desk with dual monitors setup. I rather have the brick than pancake thinner and thinner design that slowing down the hardware due to overheat. My less than a year old MBP (late 2015), fully loaded failed misery if the AC is off, i might well be setting it off during the summer. Over $3k investment and i can't work on 4k video without yanking the other monitor off, it's a bummer. I'm at the point rather have heavier big ass MBP with big ass fan than thinner than paper MBP which i know it;s going to suck big time again when it comes to ventilation. No more thin MBP for me, unfortunately there's nothing i can replace now with this overheat useless piece of junk - no Mac Pro, no iMacs announced. Macs are dead for Pros.

The cooling is a major point. The new 2016 MBP claims to have a redesigned cooling mechanism with heat pipes though. Let's wait and see if Apple could solve that problem. Would be my #1 reason to upgrade.

@iamatrix, the magic word is "transitioning". You as possible first timer will not run into the prob we long rime Mac users are now going to have with our existing accessories. I am repeating myself - the new technology (USBC) is welcome and necessary, bit not at my expense. I don't mind transitioning my existing USB equipment to the new interface over the time, but having no chance to re-use my 1 Gen old power cords anymore and needing them to replace is a joke.

It is just to make sure iPhone 7 users are going to buyA new USB to lightening cable to connect to iPhone And the new wireless headphone - air pods from appleas iPhone 7 owners cannot use the one that comes with iPhone 7

After 20 years, this might be the last straw with Apple for me. Was due to replace my iPhone but didn't this year.

My MBP is also desperately needing an upgrade, but this is not what I want, or need.

As a professional photographer I need a non glossy screen, an SD card reader built in, and not having to rely on dongles which get lost or forgotten. The Magsafe was a life saver and is now gone too. I also need real physical ESC and function keys for short cuts that I can access without having to look at them.

The Emoji Bar is cool, but useless. I have to take my eyes off the screen and focus on it to use it, you cannot just feel the keys.

The dinosaurs that design these things at Apple need to get off their horses in their white castles and talk to people that actually have to spend their days making a living on these laptops.

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